Walking ensemble

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The 1830s silhouette was created by a corseted, raised waistline; here a bell-shaped skirt reveals the lower ankle. By the late 1830s, the gigot sleeve was collapsing at the sleeve cap, but in this case, its detachable pelerine, or capelet, sustained the broad triangulated shoulder line of the period. The similarities between men's and women's fashion extended to footwear: women could wear flat slippers or tiny booties not so different from the boots and walking shoes of men.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art